Monthly Archives: March 2019

Rome, NY- Join Microdrones for their next Wednesday Webinar and learn how Crafton Tull successfully implemented UAV based Lidar, condensing their time on site in half and saving over 50% in the process.

Crafton Tull is a civil engineering, surveying, architecture, landscape architecture, and planning firm with more than 200 employees working out of ten offices across Arkansas and Oklahoma. Crafton Tull is one of very few firms in their region employing Light Detection and Ranging Scanning (LiDAR).

Recently, they completed a Tennessee Corridor Mapping project, employing both the mdLiDAR1000 and mdMapper1000DG. In this webinar, Nick Tucker, Project Manager and a Vice President of the Energy Division at Crafton Tull, will give an overview of the planning, workflow, processing and results from these systems, as well as a comparison to traditional methods. Joining Nick for the webinar will be Jeff Davis, a UAV Survey Coordinator for Crafton Tull.

The one-hour webinar we will cover:

The challenges of drone-based LiDAR and how to overcome them

How drone-based LiDAR improves workflow, reduces field and process time

From the dawn of humanity we’ve needed to know where we are and how to get to where we want to go. Since the Phoenicians 3,000 years ago, mariners steered by the sun and the stars. Heavenly bodies have been the basis for navigation ever since. From its invention in the 1700s, the sextant, an instrument for navigating by determining the angle between the horizon and a celestial body, has been carried on ships, on jetliners (early Boeing 747s had a sextant view port in the cockpit’s roof), and on Apollo spacecraft. Today constellations of positioning satellites (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo) help us find our way. So, too, for drones, which rely on positioning satellites like GPS, along with a compass and barometer, to know where they are.

Today there is an exciting new technology for drone navigation, one that looks toward the ground, not the sky: visual inertial odometry (VIO). It’s the first step on the road toward autonomous flight. And it’s here now, in the DBUS2.

The building blocks for the DBUS2’s VIO system are a single 160° ultra wide-angle camera, inertial motion sensors, and a lot of sophisticated software.

The camera depicts objects in scale relative to each other but not in absolute scale such as their size in meters or feet. Inertial sensors do measure absolute scale but they are subject to drift as small positioning errors at the outset of travel become magnified over time. The VIO algorithms compensate for these, using scale from the inertial sensors and positioning from the camera to tell the drone where it is in relation to its environment.

For the DBUS2, VIO enables it to hover very accurately, within +/- 0.1 m (3.8 in.), maintain its position and fly back to its hover point even if it’s been pulled away. The DBUS2’s Memory Cruise feature uses VIO to store the coordinates of where it is. The drone can play back the coordinates to repeat a flight. It can also play them in reverse, enabling the drone to fly back home no matter how windy or narrow the route. Memory Cruise can record even when the motors are off, enabling you to hold the aircraft while you walk with it in order to memorize a flight path.

VIO gives you unprecedented control of your drone for exciting new kinds of flights, impressive video from vantage points you couldn’t get any other way, and loads of fun.

Beyond just fun, VIO has even greater potential for the economy. Freeing drones to fly autonomously could let drones do tasks they couldn’t when guided by human pilots.

Today one pilot controls one drone. The Federal Aviation Administration has predicted there will be 7 million drones active in the skies over our heads by 2020. In the not too distant future drone flights could reach much higher numbers. UPS and FedEx alone deliver about 20 million packages daily. In just one major city, Tokyo, more than 1 million people take a taxi each day. For drones to handle even a fraction of this volume, drone delivery and air taxi flights would have to increase dramatically.

If drone flights reach these numbers there will be way too many flights for human pilots to manage. But if drones could fly themselves—meaning they could see things like a safe path among buildings, optimum landing spots, and how to navigate without GPS inside structures—they wouldn’t need human

intervention for every minute of their flight. Drones would be able to handle all kinds of aerial tasks on their own, including those yet undreamt of.

Here’s How VIO Works

VIO systems use a camera to take an image of what it sees ahead and below. For selected frames, image processing software builds a point cloud (a set of data points in space) around the edges of each meaningful shape in the frame, marking where it is in the frame.

At the same time, VIO uses the drone’s inertial motion unit to track its movement in space, such as up or down, back or forward, left or right. These exquisitely sensitive sensors know just where the drone is relative to itself and its travel millisecond to millisecond.

The VIO system then processes another image. Now we have two images, with the objects in each frame grouped together relative to each other but shifted left or right, up or down because of the different camera angle given the drone has moved.

What happens next is like magic. VIO algorithms use the elapsed time between two images, the differences in the drone’s position relative to itself and its travel, and the differences between how the group of objects in the two images has shifted, to figure out where the drone is in relation to its environment.

It’s a whole lot of math that keeps the DBUS2 remarkably on course: less than 5% drift over a 300 m (984 ft.) flight path. A commercial airliner does considerably better—1/10th of 1% over 500 miles—but its more elaborate and far more costly inertial navigation systems benefit from being cross-checked against GPS.

What’s Ahead

GPS data is on the horizon for VIO in small drones as well as awareness of restricted airspace such as no-fly zones and potentially integration with terrain databases and with LAANC (a system for obtaining permission to fly near airports).

As VIO evolves, expect it to recognize textures better, along with fine movements of objects it sees: elasticity, flows, subtle changes in shapes and reflectivity (much the same way Polynesians used sea currents to navigate on the open ocean).

Along with collision avoidance (via VIO, LIDAR, sonar and/or radar) and data from magnetic sensors and radio navigation, this is a formidable suite of smarts to enable drones to fly on their own, whether it’s delivering a package, saving a life, inspecting a bridge or any number of tasks.

Or, with the DBUS2, just for fun in your backyard or wherever your travels may take you.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA‑ASI) held a ground breaking ceremony today for a new hangar being built in El Mirage, Calif. The new facility in the high desert of southern California will be close to 150,000 square feet and be used to house and test GA-ASI’s latest Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) variant, the MQ-9B SkyGuardian.

The ground breaking event for GA-ASI’s “El Mirage Hangar 80” features speakers from the company, as well as local dignitaries, including San Bernardino County First District Supervisor Robert A. Lovingood.

“Any time we break ground on a new facility is an exciting day for our company,” said David R. Alexander, president, GA-ASI. “The new MQ-9B represents the latest in RPA innovation, and with increasing interest in this aircraft throughout the world, it’s time to get this hangar constructed.”

The Royal Air Force (RAF) is acquiring SkyGuardian as part of its Protector RG Mk1 program and is scheduled for first delivery in the early 2020s. Belgium chose SkyGuardian for its defense needs and it is also being considered by the Australian Defence Force, who selected GA-ASI to supply a RPA system for Project Air 7003.

GA-ASI expects 125 employees to be based at the new hangar, including 30-45 new hires. In addition to housing the newly manufactured SkyGuardian, the hangar will feature Ground Support Equipment and Shipping & Receiving areas.

GA-ASI is a leading manufacturer of RPA, tactical reconnaissance radars, and electro-optic surveillance systems.

About GA-ASI

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), an affiliate of General Atomics, is the leading designer and manufacturer of proven, reliable Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) systems, radars, and electro-optic and related mission systems, including the Predator® RPA series and the Lynx®Multi-mode Radar. With more than five million flight hours, GA-ASI provides long-endurance, mission-capable aircraft with integrated sensor and data link systems required to deliver persistent flight that enables situational awareness and rapid strike. The company also produces a variety of ground control stations and sensor control/image analysis software, offers pilot training and support services, and develops meta-material antennas. For more information, visit www.ga-asi.com.

We’ve written before about the concept of “biomimetics” – the school of thought that believes technology should be created to imitate natural functions and processes. In our line of work, it mostly refers to drones that attempt to improve efficiency by copying the work of natural evolution, as seen in test products like the DelFly Nimble, which flaps its wings like an insect.

Now, researchers at Yale, led by a postdoctoral student named Kaiyu Hang, have made a drone with tiny claws that perches like a bird or bat.

The claws themselves, or “contact modules” (as Hang refers to them in the paper published in Science Robotics) are 3D printed attachments tipped with 3 controllable fingers. This allows the drone to grab onto anything smaller than its opening width – which could include branches, signs, lamp posts, etc. It can also rest on a stick or grasp a rod to hang upside down like a bat. The latter is shown in the video below:

Why would researchers do something like this? Well, one of the biggest problems facing modern drone technology is the issue of energy consumption. As anyone who’s used a drone knows, batteries tend not to last very long when they’re made small enough and light enough to fly. Worse, these small batteries have to be draining constantly because constant motor action is necessary to create lift.

And while this is a problem in all fields of drone use, it’s especially an issue in the realm of aerial surveillance and mapping, which requires drones to fly over or around an area for long periods of time. It’s this specific issue that the contact modules are designed to help with. When hooked onto a ledge as shown in the first video, the drone can shut off two of its four propellers, using 45% less energy. When grasping a rod as shown in the second video, it can shut down ALL rotors and use about 95% less energy (the last 5% is necessary for the camera and other autonomous functions.) And when perched on a stick with the propellers running slowly, the quadcopter can use 69% less energy.

In Hang’s own words: “perching and resting can provide lower power consumption, better stability, and larger view ranges in many cases.” He also adds that giving drones this kind of grip can also enable greater lifting strength and safer interactions with humans.

The team first tried to execute the idea of perching through dry adhesive and small needles, but these methods only work for small, extremely lightweight UAVs that are specifically designed to use them. Most “gripper” approaches, inspired by bird feet, only allow for perching on cylindrical structures of a certain diameter. These contact modules, once perfe ed, can be 3D printed by anyone and applied to any quadcopter with four legs, and will hopefully not have to worry about the diameter or orientation of a perching surface.

Hang and his fellow researchers have already put drones with contact modules through a variety of tests described in the full research paper and were able to perch successfully on a variety of surfaces. They also found that the drones were able to partially or wholly power down without falling off of their perch, which is essential for the energy consumption that makes these drones worth using in the first place. The team’s next challenge is equipping these drones for real-life conditions. What happens if the drone tries to perch on a surface that’s wet with rain, for example?

So while it may seem silly, perching drones could also be the future of long-lasting aerial surveillance.

The writer known as I Coleman is a veteran tech reviewer who’s spent seven years writing about everything from PC hardware to drone tech and who joined the Dronethusiast team early in 2017. I brings his characteristic sense of humor and attention to detail to our product reviews and buyer’s guides, making sure that they’re packed with expert analysis in a way that’s still easy for hobby newcomers to understand. In his spare time, I is using drones to create 3D modeling software for a company in his hometown.

Autonomous drone delivery is one of the hottest topics in the modern drone industry – and even outside of it! Whether it’s the failed Amazon drone delivery proposal, Uber Eats’ insanely ambitious three-year plan, or any other high-profile project, everyone wants to know which company is going to be the first to take drone delivery into the mainstream.

Well, there’s a new player in the market: European aerospace corporation Airbus SE. Earlier this week, Airbus – best known for their contributions to controversial military hardware in the EU and various other countries – announced that it had completed a successful test of “the world’s first shore-to-ship package delivery using a drone” (per a statement given to the Agence France Presse.)

According to Airbus, the drone took off from a Singapore pier carrying a 1.5 kilogram (3.3 pound) parcel of 3D-printed objects of various sizes. It then flew autonomously (that is, without any user input) 1.5 kilometers (0.93 miles) to a ship which was anchored offshore. It then flew back to its starting position, again without user input, with the entire journey reportedly taking no more than 10 minutes.

The promise of the world’s first autonomous shore-to-ship package delivery is definitely more exciting than the practical reality. Many questions remain – chief among them, whether or not such a delivery is possible to a ship that’s actually MOVING. And according to Airbus’ statement to AFP, the limits of the drones they are currently using to test this procedure are 4 kilograms (8.8 pounds) of cargo and a flight distance of no more than 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the coast. This could severely limit the effectiveness of such a delivery.

However, Airbus’ Skyways lead, Leo Jeoh, told New Atlas that “Today’s accomplishment is a culmination of months of intense preparation by our dedicated team, and the strong collaboration with our partner, as we pursue a new terrain in the maritime industry.” Airbus says the technology has three major benefits. Firstly, it’s six times faster than regular shore-to-ship delivery. Secondly, a fleet of drones flying in autonomous corridors could lower delivery costs by up to 90 percent. Thirdly, flying a drone is safer than the alternative, mainly due to the risk of accidents which are known to occur through typical loading procedures in busy ports. And finally, carrying out deliveries with drones instead of with a smaller vessel will significantly reduce Airbus’ carbon footprint, in accordance with the European Union’s stricter guidelines for such things.

The remaining Airbus trials – which are being carried out in partnership with Wilhelmsen Ships Services – will explore the full capabilities of the drones being used, as well as exploring other ways that unmanned aerial vehicles can be used to improve safety and efficiency in the shipping industry. The company has not yet reported what the final version of this autonomous ship-to-shore delivery service might look like, nor have they discussed any matters of pricing. Only time will tell whether this venture will yield future rewards for the drone industry or whether this test will just become a footnote in another failed experiment like the Amazon proposal.

What do you think? Have you ever worked with Airbus’ previous UAV initiatives? Do you see a future for drones in the shipping industries? Will we ever see an autonomous ship-to-ship drone delivery? Be sure to sound off in the discussion below.

The writer known as I Coleman is a veteran tech reviewer who’s spent seven years writing about everything from PC hardware to drone tech and who joined the Dronethusiast team early in 2017. I brings his characteristic sense of humor and attention to detail to our product reviews and buyer’s guides, making sure that they’re packed with expert analysis in a way that’s still easy for hobby newcomers to understand. In his spare time, I is using drones to create 3D modeling software for a company in his hometown.

All of us that had met Squishy in real life or online were shocked to hear that he recently suffered a stroke. Sean has appeared on our weekly Hangout several times and always brings a strong viewpoint! I look forward to having him back on again.

A gofundme campaign to help with his medical care has been created.

Our son, Sean aka “Squishy”, suffered a massive stroke on March 5th. Luckily a neighbor saw it happen and called 911 right away. This allowed Sean to receive critical medical care as fast as possible after the stroke.

Sean is still in the ICU two weeks later, fighting a long uphill battle to rehab and recovery. In the last two weeks he has had two procedures to relieve pressure on his brain and to reduce any further damage. His breathing tube was removed Friday, March 15th and he has been breathing on his own but struggling a little bit due to lots of secretions in his lungs.

About Sean “Squishy”

Anyone that knows Squishy knows that he is not short with words! “Lovingly” known for his long winded rants on one subject or another, he is very passionate about everything he is involved with. Sean has been heavily involved in the FPV (First-Person View) flying community, local electric skateboard community, and the hiking and climbing world. Recently he was getting back into playing guitar. Never one to be idle, he always has something to tinker with.

Sean has a 6 year old daughter, Rozzi, who he frequently took climbing and camping. She loves going to his flight club events, hanging out while Dad flew his wing. She also loves to go electric skateboarding with him around old town Sac.

The Costs and How You Can Help

As Sean is currently still in ICU, we have no idea when he will be out of the hospital and into rehab. Rehab itself will be a very long road.

Sean will get some money from disability through his job with the State of California. However, we are asking for your help in covering the cost of his rental home for a few months. All of our family lives out of town and it will give us a place to stay in Sacramento while taking care of Sean, and we will not have to worry about what to do with Sean’s household things until a later date. We will be able to focus solely on Sean’s recovery if we can get the rent taken care of. Medical bills, once they come in, will surely start adding up fast. And of course, there will be miscellaneous bills we haven’t even thought of yet.

We’re asking for your help during this extremely difficult and life altering time in Sean’s life. Even if you cannot donate, please share this request with someone Sean knew or anyone you think might be interested in helping.

Thank you and we will update this page when we have new information on Sean’s recovery.

Drones have always been popular hobby items that people use while doing their favorite leisure activities. The SwellPro Splash Drone 3 is a new and innovative waterproof drone that you can take along with you for any water activities. There are many features in this drone that make it great for fishing and having on the water. New drone technologies such as this are paving the way for future innovation of hobby drones.

If you love spending most of your days on the water and want to improve your drone flying skills, keep reading to see if the Splash Drone 3 is right for you.

Getting Started with your SwellPro Splash Drone 3:

The Splash Drone 3 is the most recent SwellPro model and there is a lot to enjoy with this drone. It comes mostly assembled so you just have to charge the battery before you take flight

Here’s what you get when you buy the Swellpro Splash Drone 3:

In the Box:

Splash Drone Aircraft

FPV Remote Controller

2 pairs of propellers

Balance Charger

5200 mAH LiHV Drone Battery

Radio Battery

Landing gear

User Manual

Carry case

Some major components of this drone that allow you to use it to its full potential are sold separately which only adds to the cost of an already expensive drone. The 3-axis gimbal, 4K camera module, payload release module, and ground station module are all sold separately on this drone.

-This drone will definitely be an investment and purchasing the additional items and modules will make for an expensive purchase.

SwellPro’s enhanced waterproof model:

The Splash Drone 3 is made from durable 3mm reinforced ABS to ensure a perfect waterproof seal. The design is complete with floating capabilities and can be used in all weather conditions including rain and snow. All of the parts in this drone are corrosion resistant and designed to be used in marine environments. SwellPro is known for making high-quality waterproof drones and is one of the only places you can purchase one.

Take this drone with you anywhere. The Splash Drone 3 will thrive on lakes, oceans, and rivers. If you love to spend your days on the waters, you will have a lot of fun exploring with this drone. Likewise, if you enjoy taking to the snowy mountains this drone will be a blast in the frigid temperatures.

Stable flying with the SwellPro S3:

The new S3 flight controller comes with new sensors that allow for greater sensitivity and accuracy than most other drones. You will be able to fly safely and smoothly with more confidence in the water and in rain or snow. This controller is always checking for errors and offers redundancy to improve flight stability.

Another feature that is great for stable and easy flying is the dual-mode GPS. This locks onto 24 satellites from the GPS and GLONASS systems for improved accuracy and speed of positioning.

There are also many intelligent flight modes that allow for safe and stable flying. Most flight modes reduce manual input from the pilot making it even easier to fly. Follow Me mode makes for the drone to constantly follow and turn towards you as you move. Mission planning is a unique feature that allows you to select waypoints on a map and the Splash Drone 3 will execute the path.

There are also multiple protection features in Splash Drone 3. If the signal is lost, the drone will return to its starting point and land gently. You can also touch the Return to Home button and have your drone land safely. Also, if the battery voltage reaches warning levels you will be notified. The S3 will autoland itself as well if the battery is almost completely drained.

Our final thought on the SwellPro Splash Drone 3:

This is the best drone for you to take out on the waters with you. It’s expensive being priced at $1,119 and expensive add-ons, but the quality of this drone makes it worth its price. The durable waterproof frame and amazing flight modes will make you want to buy this drone.

The only setback with this drone is that you have to buy a lot of extra accessories to use this drone to its full potential. However, if you can afford to make the purchase it’s highly recommended for an outstanding drone experience.

If you love spending your days on the beach, near the river, at the lake, or in the mountains this is a great drone for anyone with an adventurous spirit who loves to explore. It’s great for fishing, photos and videos, and can be fun to use while boating.

The writer known as I Coleman is a veteran tech reviewer who’s spent seven years writing about everything from PC hardware to drone tech and who joined the Dronethusiast team early in 2017. I brings his characteristic sense of humor and attention to detail to our product reviews and buyer’s guides, making sure that they’re packed with expert analysis in a way that’s still easy for hobby newcomers to understand. In his spare time, I is using drones to create 3D modeling software for a company in his hometown.

Not much seems genuinely new in the current drone age. Most things we have seen before. But the Pterodynamics team with whom we spoke with last night on Drone Stuff This Week seem to be onto something.

The wings of their eVTOL fold, and the method seems to make for really smooth transitions into an efficient fixed wing platform.

There are many points to take away from last nights chat, the bit I still have to get my head around is the weight distribution and benefits of it. All explained, but I will have to watch again. Its batteries are in the wings to achieve it’s unusual CG requirements and of course free up space in the fuselage for sensors or cargo.

Transitions do look effortless and the platform is currently flown with a KK board but is moving to Ardupilot code.

Pterodynamics are absolutely on my ones to watch list.

Our patented aircraft design has the highest performance metrics of any VTOL aircraft. Given any aircraft footprint size and payload requirements, Transwing aircraft will fly several times as far as any VTOL competitor

The secret is that our patented Transwing aircraft design is a pure rotor wing when taking off and landing and transitions by folding and rotating its wings into a fixed-wing aircraft for forward flight. A rotor wing configuration is an optimal design for stable takeoff, landing, and hover, and a fixed wing configuration is the optimal design for flying long distances very fast carrying a heavy payload using the least amount of energy possible. Transwing is the only aircraft design that transitions between these two optimal configurations.

The Transwing will have a profound and positive impact on the entire aviation industry and will make possible whole industry segments, including drone delivery, air taxis and personal flying transport.

Our Transwing design provides many key advantages:

Most importantly, they are as stable and efficient during takeoff, landing and hover as a helicopter or multicopter,

Yet as efficient for horizontal flight as any fixed wing aircraft, permitting significantly higher speeds, flight efficiency and lift-to-drag ratios than a helicopter or multicopter. Transwing aircrafts can easily have lift-to-drag ratios greater than 20 because they have the advantage of having their wings folded back when taking off and landing and while on the ground, so the wings can be significantly longer than other VTOL aircraft designs.

The in-flight transition of the folding wings enabled by our proprietary wing joint is extremely rapid and seamless due to uniquely benign aerodynamics of all the intermediate configurations during transition. The large dihedral and swept back angle of the wings during transition results in an angle of attack that never exceeds 20 degrees while flying horizontally, which reduces buffeting and flow separation, making the transitions smooth and natural.

Because of their folded wing configuration, Transwing aircraft designs are extremely compact for ground storage and during takeoff, landing and hover, with a full-scale four-passenger vehicle being just 18 feet wide by 23 feet long.

Payload capacities can be as much as 40% or even more of maximum takeoff weight. Quadcopters are famous for their ability to lift multiples of their own weight. Because Transwing aircrafts fold to a fully functioning quadcopter (or other multicopter) configuration for takeoff and landing, its payload can be as high as that of any other quadcopter, minus the weight of its wings and empennage.

Transwing aircrafts can use either wet fuel or distributed electric propulsion, which offers redundancies, is very reliable, much more quiet and efficient than internal combustion engines and are less expensive to build, maintain and operate, not to mention that they are much better for the environment with zero emission.

Transwing aircraft have the same cruise and maximum speed profiles as conventional fixed wing aircraft.

It’s possible to have Transwing configurations where all the motors are used for both takeoff and landing as well as forward flight so that there is no superfluous motor in either configuration causing unnecessary weight or drag.

Fuselage always stays parallel to the ground. This is critical when carrying people and other payloads that should not be shifted significantly during flight as well as for vehicles whose primary missions include carrying first-person-view (FPV) and other cameras and sensors that must be kept in a fixed orientation throughout the flight profile, from takeoff through cruise to landing, including transitioning to hover in mid-flight if that is part of the mission requirement (e.g., for conducting inspections where the aircraft must convert to hover for an extended inspection before transitioning back to forward flight to the next inspection location).

Vehicles can range in size from <5 lbs to 75,000 lbs.

Our patented design is truly a breakthrough for distance VTOL aircraft. As an example, our all-electric VTOL aircraft designed to carry a 5 lb payload (Parus5c™) is 18% smaller, flies more than 6x as long (100 minutes vs 13 minutes) and more than 12x as far (80 miles vs 6 miles) than the otherwise most performant VTOL aircraft of a similar size and payload capacity, the DJI Matrice 200 with their highest capacity TB50 battery pack.

Comparison of performance metrics of the Transwing Parus5c as compared to the otherwise most performant VTOL aircraft in the world with a similar size and payload, the DJI Matrice 200 with its highest capacity TB50 battery pack.

Vehicle Specifications for Various Transwing Aircraft Models

Specifications for some of our Transwing aircraft. Note that the Transwing aircraft design can be optimized to balance payload, range, duration/endurance, and/or speed requirements. We can design Transwing aircraft that range in weight from less than 5 lbs to over 75,000 lbs and can be all-electric, hybrid electric with turboshaft engines or even all conventional wet fuel engines, which may be the most practical for much larger vehicles (i.e., greater than 10,000 lbs). Transwing can be ruggedized for harsh conditions such as for combat and for maritime and/or desert conditions in a wide range of operating climates. Transwing aircraft can be fitted with a range of communications and payload packages.

Our claims are not just theoretical. We have a working prototype with a four-foot wingspan (Parus4) that we’ve flown 100+ times that proves our assertions, and we have hovered the first of our two Parus12 aircraft with 12-foot wingspans, which are 1/4 scale of our 2-passenger vehicle (see video). Soon we will have our Parus12 aircraft in full flight, complete with in-flight wing transitions.

Our aircraft design is so much more performant than any other that it will literally be impossible to be competitive in any business that requires aircraft to takeoff and land without a runway and fly long distances unless you use one of our aircraft.

It’s like introducing a car that gets 500 mpg and cruises at 200 mph in a world where the most efficient cars get only 50 mpg and have a max speed of 100 mph. We’re not counting on better batteries, motors, controllers or software; it’s all in our novel aircraft design.

Variations of the design are possible depending on the particular application, including additional props and protected props.

Syracuse – The Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR), and Griffiss International Airport in Rome, New York, have successfully implemented the UAS traffic management (UTM) platform from ANRA Technologies into the New York State UAS test site.

This advances the test site’s capabilities by enhancing multiple, simultaneous beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations that involve both manned and unmanned vehicles sharing the same airspace. ANRA Technologies also enhances tracking and supports network-based Remote ID and detect-and-avoid capabilities.

“The implementation of ANRA’s technologies brings great agility and currency to the New York State UAS test site and keeps NUAIR on the path to bring the test site to full operational capability by early August of this year,” said Major General Marke F. “Hoot” Gibson (ret), chief executive officer of the NUAIR Alliance.

“ANRA joins our team of UAS service suppliers at the test site and has implemented world-class flight and range information management

systems, significantly enhancing our UAS testing capabilities.”

Features of the ANRA UTM platform include flight planning and monitoring, command and control, separation assurance, airspace management, tracking of drones, reporting, and open interfaces to enable capabilities like Remote ID. The platform is designed to integrate both participating and non-participating UAS into a single operational unmanned traffic management system.

During a NUAIR-hosted, two-day conference in January, consisting of more than 40 UAS industry experts from 20 global companies, specific “real-world” scenarios were outlined and testing participating and non-participating UAS in the same airspace was one of those scenarios. This scenario showcases the commercial viabilities of UAS, while highlighting

the technical challenges of operating multiple UAS in shared airspace. The implementation of the ANRA UTM platform makes this testing capability a reality for the New York State UAS test site.

“We are excited to work with NUAIR and the NYS UAS Test Site on evolving UTM capabilities and performance standards that will hopefully help define the requirements for an Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP) “Approvable” service,” said Amit Ganjoo, CEO of ANRA Technologies. “Without initiatives like this in place, it will be extremely challenging

to justify implementation of a commercially viable UTM to support safe BVLOS operations.”

About NUAIR

The Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR Alliance, or NUAIR) is a New York based not-for-profit coalition of several hundred private and public entities and academic institutions. NUAIR leads, manages, oversees, and coordinates operations at the NY UAS Test Site, located in Rome, NY, which is responsible to the FAA and NASA to

conduct operations for UAS testing. NUAIR is recognized as a leader in technology and applications development in building the case for safe UAS operations in the Nation’s airspace. The NUAIR staff of experienced aviation professionals provide safety, airworthiness, technical, operations, and customer support globally as well as focused operations across NY. The NUAIR Alliance consortium partners provide unsurpassed expertise in aeronautical research, UAS operations, and safety management.

ANRA Technologies provides unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operators and service providers with an off the shelf, industry leading and award-winning operational UTM platform and services for launching and managing commercial drone operations.

ANRA has powered multiple national campaigns to test BVLOS and Line-Of-Sight (LOS) UTM operations at various test locations around the US and internationally. These deployments were designed to test and validate technology enabling multiple aircraft to share the same airspace safely while also paving the way for broader integration of these vehicles into the national airspace. ANRA is also engaged in the UK UAS Traffic Management (UTM) program. The Program is part of a wider program which is government-led and across the public and private sectors, aimed at enabling safe integration of drones into UK airspace.

Tech lover, previous experience in tech company or start up environment a must. Knowledge of the drone operation and drone industry a clear plus.

Ability to work from our office in Irvine, CA

Be able and willing to travel

About us

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Hong Kong, XDynamics designs, develops, manufactures, and markets high-end drone products for both consumers and professionals.

Its development team consists of industry-leading experts from Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, Hong Kong, and Mainland China with several decades of experience in aerial robotics, aerodynamics, flight control algorithms, computer vision, and imaging technology.

XDynamics is committed to empower users with freedom and autonomy through drone technology, unleashing unlimited creativity in aerial cinematography, and spatial big data analysis and collection.

We build top specification drones with proprietary sensors, radios, motors, gimbals that deliver the high performance, safety and reliability for your daily flying.

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YouTube channel FliteTest has released a new video in which they design, build and test a real-life version of Thor’s famous hammer, Mjölnir. Thor is the chiselled Norse god of thunder as well as the star of more Marvel movies than you can shake a giant flying hammer at. Those familiar with his character will know […]

Researchers at Yale University have developed a UAV which uses nature-inspired robotic talons to “perch and rest” in places that would normally be inaccessible. The group, led by Kaiyu Hang, were looking to make drones that fly in a more energy efficient manner. They observed how birds and bats use structures to conserve their energy when […]

Today Kickstarter is hosting the launch of a new mind-controlled drone and headset. Chinese company EEGSmart have developed brain-machine interface (BMI) technology which they intend to market to the masses through their UDrone mini-quad and UMind Lite headset. A year ago we brought you a story about drones you can control with your mind on display […]

President Donald Trump’s administration has reversed an Obama era policy requiring US intelligence services to report the number of civilians killed by American drones. On March 6, Trump signed an executive order revoking the requirement for intelligence agencies to publicly announce the number of non-combatants killed by US drone strikes or other attacks on terrorist […]

Engineers who run a ‘drone hacking’ website say that software designed to prevent drones from flying near airports is very easy to bypass. Drone producers, such as Chinese giant DJI, produce UAVs with inbuilt geofencing software which creates ‘virtual walls’ stopping crafts from being able to enter restricted air space near airports or military bases. There […]

The world’s largest agricultural drone fleet is transforming the way farmers manage their crops. Through a collaboration with Corteva Agriscience™, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont, DroneDeploy’s advanced mapping software is powering Corteva Agriscience’s fleet of more than 400 DJI drones across the company’s global teams, including:

Spanning three continents, DroneDeploy’s Live Map technology provides Corteva Agriscience’s UAV fleet of DJI drones with immediate insights to diagnose and correct agronomic, disease, and pest concerns, as well as to suggest locations for optimal product placement.

Agriculture may be as old as civilization itself, but thanks to new technologies that make it easier to monitor crops and maximize yields, the industry remains on the cutting edge. In less than 15 minutes, advanced UAV technology can survey a 160-acre field to identify variations in plant soil and health, giving farmers direct access to real-time aerial views and data to help make informed agronomic decisions. The result is a full-scale drone operation that gives agronomists and contract seed growers the ability to make timely determinations that directly impact seed yields and quality.

DroneDeploy’s Live Map technology provides real-time crop insights that enable growers to take immediate agronomic actions in the field. Whether it’s identifying an area that lacks irrigation or a particular crop that’s sprouting better (or worse) than expected, agricultural UAVs enable farmers to course correct issues through powerful, data-driven insights. Once drone fleets are ready to be deployed to field teams, drone operators undergo training to determine how to harness the power of aerial technology and ensure that operations adhere to local aviation regulations.

Utilizing UAVs developed by DJI, the collaboration between Corteva Agriscience and DroneDeploy brings some of the world’s most powerful agriscience solutions together with the world’s leading commercial drones and commercial drone software. Corteva Agriscience’s portfolio of products includes some of the world’s most recognizable brands in agriculture, including Pioneer, Brevant seeds, and Encirca and Granular, as well as Crop Protection products developed through active chemistry and technology.

DJI, the world leader in commercial and civilian drones, makes up more than 70% of the drone market and offers a wide variety of UAV products across many different industries. Combined with DroneDeploy’s user-friendly platform for real-time sharable drone maps and 3D models, farmers and agronomists across the globe will be able to carry out data-driven actions to keep fields full, healthy, and ready for seasons to come.

Where to Learn MoreLearn more about the improvements to the DroneDeploy Map Engine.Explore the DroneDeploy App Market to see more than 80 apps you can use today to generate insights with drone data.eBook: Drones in Agriculture

Be sure to read our latest eBook, The Ultimate Guide to Drones on the Farm.

In our previous post, we discuss the many ways you can begin using drones to improve inspections in the oil and gas sector. In this post, we take a look at the impact drones have on operations—and why it’s time you should consider investing in a drone program.

Drones provide O&G companies many benefits, including cost savings, improved communication, a safer work environment, and more accurate data. Read on to explore the key ways drones can transform your workflows.

Inspecting O&G infrastructure and gathering critical data with drones cost substantially less than traditional inspection methods that require ground crews or manned flights. Drones are tough birds and can withstand harsh temperatures and other conditions. They get much closer to infrastructure than a helicopter or airplane, providing better visuals and data. Drones also minimize downtime by avoiding the need to shut down operations for inspections and by catching leaks and other maintenance issues early, lowering remediation costs.

Drones enable employees to conduct inspection and monitoring tasks without exposing themselves to the typical dangers of O&G operations. As a result, work hours lost due to injuries decline, medical expenses and insurance costs shrink, and the number of workplace events reported to OSHA and other regulatory agencies drop.

Safer Work Environments

Manual infrastructure inspections are often dangerous. For example, inspectors at wells and offshore rigs must climb up and down ladders and along catwalks — and even use cranes or harnesses and rappelling equipment to reach equipment. Inspectors sometimes must work in close proximity to harmful chemicals and dangerous machinery.

Drones perform inspections without risking employee safety. They’re particularly useful for inspections after blowouts or natural disasters — or when sending a ground crew to a site may be difficult, costly or unsafe.

Better, More Accurate Data

Drones provide a flexible platform for a wide range of cameras and sensors. They can collect data needed for situations requiring real-time solutions or store data for later analysis. Businesses can easily integrate digitized mapping information and other data from drone flights into analytical and AI solutions for advanced processing. For example, software solutions use topographical and geological data gathered by drones to create models that help identify promising oil and gas drill sites.

Not only do drones gather information more efficiently than human inspectors, the digital data enables employees to make better, data-driven decisions. This drastically reduces downtime, catches conflicts and issues faster, and helps keep your operation running like the well-oiled machine that it is.

Superior Communication

The remote nature of oil and gas work often requires operators to communicate with workers on sites around the world. This can present a challenge to managers and engineers working from the headquarters and collaborating with the boots on the ground. But drones can make things easier. Workers on the ground can fly drones on their site and upload the data to the cloud where back office managers can review and coordinate further inspection or follow ups — all without leaving the desk chair. Using software such as DroneDeploy makes it easy for the back office to markup maps or drop in annotations in real time so that inspectors can check on pressure points, leaks, or other potential issues.

Where to Learn More

The latest drone technology — like aerial mapping, thermal imaging, and digital terrain modeling — gives you a rich set of data to streamline your workflows and generate real-time insights.

A free guide to measuring stockpiles and gathering accurate inventory counts with UAVs.

Whether you work in the construction, mining, or aggregates sectors, stockpile management is a critical requirement on any job site. But measuring stockpiles can be unsafe, time-consuming, and expensive. This puts you in a difficult position. You need accurate data to run your business operations, but you shouldn’t have to send your survey team into the field for hours to clamber across stockpiles on a dangerous job site.

What if you could gather the same survey data in minutes from the safety of the ground, all while achieving higher accuracy and freeing up your survey team to focus on other high-priority projects? Sound too good to be true? Nope. Drones can help.

While you may be familiar with drone photography, drones are also a trusted tool for surveying and measurement. They eliminate many of the challenges companies face with traditional survey solutions. And drones paired with powerful photogrammetry software from DroneDeploy can help lower your data collection costs, increase accuracy, save you time, and keep your team out of harm’s way — all without having to hire an entire survey team or invest in expensive laser or lidar hardware.

“Everyone should be using drones for stockpile analysis. It’s miles ahead of standard surveying.” — Tecia White, President at Whitewater Hydrogeology Ltd.Read the full case study

Over the last 4 years, our team has worked with thousands of customers measuring stockpiles with drones. In that time, we’ve learned the techniques that produce highly-accurate results that our customers expect from DroneDeploy.

In our latest eBook, we take a deep dive into the stockpile measurement workflow using DroneDeploy—covering best practices and answers to the most frequently asked questions from our customers.

The best practices for flying, processing, and analyzing stockpiles with DroneDeployHow to get precise volume measurements and generate instant stockpile reportsHow to achieve high degrees of measurement accuracy and why it mattersThe most common app integrations for stockpile management used by DroneDeploy customersHow three innovative companies have used DroneDeploy’s stockpile measurement tools to cut costs, save time, and improve safety on their job sitesWhere to Learn More

Some of the largest oil and gas companies around the world now deploy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), better known as drones, to address a wide variety of operational challenges. This rapidly improving technology, along with advances in big data and artificial intelligence, is poised to transform the O&G industry in the coming years.

The aerial intelligence provided by drones offers several key benefits, including safer inspections and helping companies comply with regulatory requirements — while saving them millions of dollars in labor, remediation, and other costs.

Drones are the perfect solution for conducting visual inspections of infrastructure and gathering extensive data. An increasing number of O&G companies use drones to perform three basic industry functions — pipeline inspection and monitoring, oil well and rig inspection, and surveying and construction monitoring — at a significantly lower cost than ground, manned aircraft or helicopter inspection crews.

Read on to learn more about the leading uses of drones in the oil and gas sector.

Pipeline Inspection and Monitoring

By taking photos and videos of above-ground pipelines, drones allow inspectors in the field or engineers in a remote location to view pipes, either in real time or later. The operator can zero in on areas of concern to gather additional information and, if necessary, recommend that a ground crew visually check the area.

By examining the vegetation index, inspectors can identify specific areas of concern with DroneDeploy, catching leaks before they spread. Read the case study.

To detect potential underground leaks, drones take photos along pipeline routes. User-friendly software from DroneDeploy combines these images, creating high-resolution vegetation maps that identify plant kill-off zones, which may indicate a leak. Equipping a drone with an infrared camera provides an additional way to inspect pipelines: Thermal imagery of pipeline routes reveal hotspots, which may indicate potential defects in pipeline insulation or leaks invisible to the human eye.

Drone images also detect anomalies along a pipeline network or any encroachments, such as construction or roadwork, on a right-of-way that could threaten the integrity of the pipeline. In case of significant leaks, explosions or other emergency situations, drones provide real-time video to help emergency response teams assess the situation before sending in crews.

An operator inspects an oil well using drone POV goggles, while remaining safely on the ground. Photo courtesy of Bruin E&P Partners.Oil Well and Rig Inspection

O&G companies also use drones to photograph oil wells and offshore rigs throughout the initial drilling process. Once the well is operating, drones efficiently monitor operations. For example, they provide a close-up look at a flare stack while it’s in service. That provides a real benefit to the traditional approach: shutting down the flare system and assigning an inspector to climb the stack to examine it. In this case, a drone inspection saves weeks of physical inspection preparation and avoids significant loss of productivity and revenue due to an operational shutdown.

This drone-generated 3D model of oil storage tanks replaced helicopter imagery and saved $3500 over a five-month period. Read the full case study.

Drone inspections help companies prevent health and safety events (HSE), allowing them to address operational issues without sending employees into dangerous zones. Drones also provide easy surveillance of remote or hard-to-reach assets, such as storage tanks.

Drones are taking on an expanding role in both the oil exploration and construction stages.2 They survey prospective drilling locations and gather key data without the time and expense of traditional surveying methods. Once a well site is ready for development, drones deployed during the construction stage of wells, rigs, pipelines and refineries conduct crucial as-built surveys, allowing managers to keep track of a project’s progress and provide quality assurance of the build-outs.

Construction compliance officers use drone photos to compare actual conditions to pre-construction designs, as well as to detect and correct plan defects and deviations and spot any potential safety issues. This information also helps streamline decision-making throughout the project. Companies can even create, document and share a visual timeline with all stakeholders. Once construction is finished, drones provide a digital 3-D representation of structures to use as a baseline reference.

This orthomosaic drone map shows construction progress taking place on a well site. Map courtesy of Bruin E&P Partners.

Drones provide extremely precise aerial intelligence that simplifies and improves a wide range of O&G processes. Whether inspecting hundreds of miles of oil pipelines for leaks, helping employees keep operations in compliance with regulations or enabling companies to construct infrastructure more efficiently, agile and flexible UAVs have quickly become a go-to tool for operators around the world.

Product Release Wrap-Up January 2019Kick off the New Year with improved accuracy and AI tools from DroneDeploy

Since launching the Projects interface last month, our team has been busy implementing a series of new features to improve your team’s productivity and overall map accuracy in 2019.

Read on to learn more about new automated flight settings, map alignment capabilities, Autodesk export options, and a suite of AI tools now available to DroneDeploy customers.

The Joy of aligned maps in action over the course of a project.Align Maps Over Time — Instantly.

Comparing maps over time is one of the most common uses of DroneDeploy. But comparing the same areas can be tricky if the maps don’t line up. Unfortunately, GPS accuracy varies and maps of the same location can shift anywhere between 5–10 meters without the use of ground control points (GCPs).

To overcome this problem, we built a new solution into our proprietary Map Engine to align new maps with those previously made at the same location. As an added benefit, the absolute accuracy and scale of a map made with GCPs will improve the accuracy of future maps in the same area — meaning you can map more often with less effort and still get great results.

Use map alignment in conjunction with the “Side-by-Side” app, to see how things have changed on your site.

Automatic Map Alignment is now available to all paying DroneDeploy customers.

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Filter and Sort Map Annotations

Have you ever had trouble finding the annotation or measurement that you’re looking for in a map with dozens or even hundreds of annotations? Or perhaps you’ve wanted to hide specific annotations and focus on those that are most important? New improvements to DroneDeploy annotations make both of these tasks possible.

Now you can view a list of all of the annotations on your map. You can then select or hide specific annotations, and you can even use the search and filter tools to look for specific annotations or annotation types.

Filter annotations by measurement type using the filter icon on the dashboard.Simplify GCP Tagging with Ground Control AI

For those times when absolute accuracy is required, efficient use of GCPs and checkpoints for mapping is extremely important. For the last six months, thanks to thousands of DroneDeploy customers tagging GCPs, we’ve trained our machine learning algorithms to automatically identify and geolocate the most popular types of GCP markers automatically.

Here are a few examples of the types of GCP markers that DroneDeploy can now detect and geolocate to save you time:

If some, or all of your GCPs are automatically identified, you’ll get a notification in the typical email workflow. You will notice that many of your GCPs are already tagged when you open the link.

Ground Control AI will continue to improve as you use it, and will learn from your corrections over time.

Once GCPs have been detected, you can finish selecting any additional GCPs that may be in the map.

Ground Control AI is now available to all Business and Enterprise customers.

Detect and Annotate Objects with Count AI

We launched our Counting tool last August. Since then, customers have annotated more than 360,000 objects. Uses include auditing solar panels, asset quantification, damage assessments, crop yield estimation, and more. With a significant amount of counting data under our belts, our team can now rapidly train our counting algorithms to detect and count custom objects for our enterprise customers.

Select an area and Count AI does the rest.

The first two object types we are supporting are cars and trees, but if your workflow requires counting any object series in your maps, sign up for our beta program today and contact your DroneDeploy Account Manager to learn more about this new feature.

Measuring stockpiles on construction sites, mines, and quarries is one of the most common use of DroneDeploy’s measurement tools. To speed up the stockpile measurement workflow, we developed our Stockpile AI assistant to annotate and measure stockpile volumes with a single click.

When you select the Stockpile AI icon, DroneDeploy will detect and highlight all stockpiles present on your map. You can then generate an instant volume measurement by selecting the stockpile you wish to measure. It’s that easy.

Once the volume annotation is created, it’s still possible to customize the stockpile boundary as you usually would. Keep in mind that like our other machine learning tools, your existing annotations and corrections power Stockpile AI — which will continue to improve the more you use it.

Stockpile AI is now available to all Enterprise customers.

Import Point Clouds from DroneDeploy to AutoDesk

Our construction customers have frequently asked to import drone-generated point clouds from DroneDeploy to AutoDesk Civil 3D, Revit, and Navisworks. We’re happy to announce this capability is now available in DroneDeploy.

To directly import your point cloud files to AutoDesk, choose the AutoDesk (.rcp) format when you export your next point cloud. The .rcp data will also include a .rcs point cloud as well. These new point cloud formats can be exported using all the local and custom coordinate systems we support for existing exports.